Estrella: Rosales in shortlist for Phil Sports Training Center

ROSALES—Optimism over the choice of
this town as the site for the P3.5-billion Philippine Sports Training Center
(PSTC) was echoed by Rep. Conrado Estrella III of the Abono party-list
economy.

According to Estrella, the town
received a very positive evaluation of the town and will be included in the
shortlist as one of the proposed sites of the center by the Philippine Sports
Commission (PSC) .

He said aside from Rosales, also being
considered are Baguio City, Clark and Mindanao as possible sites. “We will be very happy because really,
out of the many places that they are considering, we are included (in the
shortlist),” Estrella said.

He said there is a 20-hectare lot in
Rosales as the future site of the PSTC. He, however, declined to identify the
barangay.

The PSTC will have a fund of
P3.5-billion provided under the General Appropriations Act and its construction
will take about three years.

He said Rosales is strategically
located because of the North Luzon Expressway, Tarlac-Pangasinan-La Union
Expressway and the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway, making Rosales as easily
accessible.

He added that the PSC came out with an
evaluation, considering many aspects of the construction, “and Rosales turns
out to be the most ideal and we would be glad to help them the best that we
could so that it would be constructed in Rosales”.

Once it is erected here, Estrella said
it will have a domino effect on the economy.

“That’s the very purpose of government
infrastructure. It pumps up the economy in some areas,” he said.

Estrella shepherded the passage of the
originating bill in the House of Representatives until it became law.

He thanked his colleagues led by House
Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for its passage and the crafting of a
counterpart Senate bill that led to the enactment of the new law.

He said the last sports training center
built by the government was the Rizal Sports Coliseum in 1934. (Philstar Wire Service)